Chapter 358 - Provocation
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nIn Sea City, the flames illuminated half the sky and enveloped the entire city.
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n“What is that? A comet from outer space?”
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n“The gods must have descended into the world. The gods will definitely descend into the world again and guide us forward!”
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n“This is the guidance of the gods. The human race will definitely control the entire Demon Realm.”
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nEveryone looked at the huge fireball in the sky piously and prayed quietly. They did not dare to have any blasphemy and only waited silently for the huge fireball to descend into the world.
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nA second sun suddenly appeared in the sky with a huge commotion. Fortunately, it landed outside Sea City. If it landed in the city, half of the city would probably be smashed in.
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nPeople walked out of the city wall and swarmed towards the place where the target had landed. They were looking for the miracle, wanting to see where it had happened.
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nIn the river, the steaming water kept churning like a pot of boiling water.
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nBig fish and prawns that were cooked kept floating to the surface of the river from the bottom. They were all cooked by the huge rock. People rushed to the river to fish for the fish and prawns. They all treated this as a gift from nature. This must be the will of the gods. The gods had given them these things.
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nThey calmly took the gift that belonged to them. Each of them had made a killing this time. They had never returned with a full load like today.
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nIn the past, every time they came out to hunt, it was like a provocation to their lives. However, everything was completely different today. This must be a miracle that only the gods could bring about. Only the gods could give them such a rich harvest. They believed it without a doubt.
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nFrom then on, Sea City had another god altar. It was a platform more than ten meters tall. The platform was built with pure boulders. A total of four huge boulders were built into a simple shelf. It was like the simplest sacrificial ritual in nature. The huge rock that fell from the sky and cooled down was placed at the top of the shelf.
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nThis flying stone was placed in the center of Sea City, enough for everyone to admire and worship.
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n“Young Master Li, I keep feeling that this stone is strange. It makes me feel uneasy.”
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nYe Qiluo stood on the tall pavilion of the City Lord Manor and looked at the strange stone platform that was worshiped by tens of thousands of people from afar. Li Yuanqing stood quietly beside her.
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nThey would never approach that place.
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nThose citizens seemed to have been bewitched. They squatted beside the platform day and night to pray and worship.
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nThis scene made Ye Qiluo feel a very strong sense of danger. She could not say for sure. The moment the stone appeared, Ye Qiluo had already received the news.
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nIn the beginning, she was still busy establishing a new order in Rong City, so she did not care. Later on, after people cheered and worshiped the stone, although Ye Qiluo felt that it was inappropriate, she could not stop the spontaneous actions of so many people, so she let them be.
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nWhen Ye Qiluo was done with the matters in Rong City, she turned around to look at the matter here. The matter of discovering this stone was already beyond her control. The people in the city simply worshiped that stone like a god.
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nYe Qiluo regretted not erecting a stone tablet of the Sword Immortal back then. This way, people might have faith and not believe in these strange things.
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nLi Yuanqing carefully examined the huge rock. This rock was three meters long and looked like an egg. No matter how hard he tried to test the situation inside the huge rock, he could not sense any detailed spiritual energy fluctuations.
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nHowever, if one looked at the stone with the naked eye, it was as if they were watching a huge heart beating. It was thumping so hard that their eyes were dizzy.
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nThe more Li Yuanqing observed, the more curious he was about this thing. Why did the meteorite fall from the sky look like this? What was inside?
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n“Has anything strange happened in the city recently?”
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nYe Qiluo really could not control the people in Sea City anymore, so she had no choice but to call Li Yuanqing over. Li Yuanqing had also long heard about what had happened here. Initially, he did not take it seriously, but he did not expect the situation to develop so badly.
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nYe Qiluo sighed and shook her head after thinking about it.
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n“I have to say that ever since this rock appeared, the people in Sea City seem to have become more easygoing and less aggressive than before. They’ve all become very quiet and there are fewer crimes than before.”
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n“Can they really sit in front of this rock for a day and a night?”
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n“Not only that, but I don’t think they’ve moved their nests for more than ten days. They don’t eat or drink and have completely fallen into a state of fasting. They’ve even given up on cultivating.”
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nLi Yuanqing happened to see a few people sitting in front. The people in the front rows all looked haggard, but their eyes were abnormally energetic. They looked at the huge rock on the platform excitedly.
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nIt was rather strange when the spiritual energy in their bodies was almost dry. If they were just sitting there to comprehend the Dao or worship the gods, they would not have exhausted all the spiritual energy in their bodies.
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nHowever, Li Yuanqing discovered that not only did these people not have any spiritual energy in their bodies, but their veins were also about to be sucked dry. Any spiritual energy hidden in their bodies seemed to be sucked dry.
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nAt the side, in an inconspicuous corner, a haggard-looking fellow with a faltering gait slowly walked into the alley at the side, as if he was finally going back to his cave abode to replenish his energy.
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n“Come, follow me.”
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nAs Li Yuanqing spoke, he turned into a gust of wind and disappeared from the platform. In the blink of an eye, he arrived at the side of the street. The street was also filled with people. They did not notice the newcomers at all and only focused on the platform.
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nLi Yuanqing ignored these people and followed the fellow into an alley.
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nAlthough Ye Qiluo was puzzled, she followed obediently.
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nThe two of them walked in the alley one after another. Li Yuanqing listened to the slow footsteps in front of him and followed bit by bit.
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n“Young Master Li, did you find anything?”
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nLi Yuanqing did not answer. He only quickened his pace and continued to follow.
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nThe fellow in front looked exhausted, as if he could not take it anymore. However, to everyone’s surprise, that fellow did not stop even after walking for a long time. They had turned around and around in this alley for an unknown period of time before they reached the civilian area at the periphery.
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nThey followed these twisting paths from the center of the city to the outermost city. The light here was very chaotic. Usually, no one would notice the situation here.
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n“Young Master Li, why did he take some small paths? Why didn’t he take the main road outside?”
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nYe Qiluo was also very strange about this scene. There were clearly so many paths to choose from, but that fellow had chosen such a remote path and brought the two of them here. They had been walking for a long time.
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n“Do you smell anything?”
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n“What smell?” Ye Qiluo said helplessly. “Young Master, there’s nothing we can do about it. I’ve also tried very hard to make the environment here better, but the people living here don’t seem to buy it. They seem to like it more. It smells like this place.”
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n“No, this isn’t just the smell of living trash. There’s something else.”
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n“What smell?”
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nJust as the two of them were talking, the footsteps in front suddenly stopped. Li Yuanqing’s expression changed and he hurriedly chased after him.
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nThey reached the end of the alley and turned a corner. A dead end appeared in front of them. This dead end was more than ten meters deep. Was there a strong stench inside?
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nThe smell was all gathered in this alley and could not be dispersed no matter what. The smell that Li Yuanqing had smelled just now was emitted from here.
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nAnd in that dark place, dark things piled into a small mountain were corpses.
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nThe pious believer who they had followed all the way here just now walked to the top of the pile of corpses consciously and lay down silently. He died after a while. He was completely motionless and dead.
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nYe Qiluo went forward to check and retreated in disbelief. She did not understand why there was such a scene. Why were these people gathered together? What was it that made them so painful? They were all gathered here and died silently.
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n“Young Master, they’ve already…”
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nYe Qiluo could not understand what she was seeing. What was going on? Why were they like this? What happened?
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n“It’s that rock.”
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n“What?”
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n“That stone has bewitched people.”
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n“But…”
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nYe Qiluo could not understand what was going on.
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nAlthough she also felt that something was wrong with the stone, it didn’t seem like it had done anything. It just lay there quietly and accepted the worship of people. However, why did these people throw themselves here like trash after worshiping the stone and die casually?
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n“I’ll smash it now!”
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nYe Qiluo rushed to the entrance of the alley while panting. Just as she was about to fly into the air, Li Yuanqing stopped her.
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n“No, the power of that stone might exceed your imagination. If you go like this, I’m afraid you’ll only be courting death.”
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n“But if I don’t do this, I can’t just watch as these humans in Sea City die one by one at that fellow’s hands. I don’t even know why or what happened. They died just like that?”
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n“Let me see it.”
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n“Young Master Li.”
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n“This stone is not something that should exist in this world. He should go back to where he came from.”
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n“What do you mean, Young Master Li?”
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n“I’ll take this boulder away tonight and bring it to my domain space. At that time, you have to calm the emotions of the people and not let them panic.”
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n“But there are hundreds of thousands of them. What should I do with them?”
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nLi Yuanqing flipped his hand and a black stone appeared in his palm.
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n“This thousand-year-old spade wood will emit a fragrance after it is lit. At that time, we can temporarily hypnotize them.”
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nYe Qiluo carefully held the piece of wood in her palm. She had only heard of this kind of black spade wood in legends and had never seen anyone use it before. Today, Li Yuanqing had generously taken out such a big piece. Legend had it that the size of a fingernail was enough to charm thousands of people.
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n“Young Master, don’t worry. I’ll definitely send someone to stabilize the situation and try my best not to let them cause trouble.”
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nIt was night.
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nThe attraction of the meteorite seemed to be getting stronger and stronger. Not only did the number of people who came to make a pilgrimage from all directions not decrease, but it even increased a lot.
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nThe most serious thing was that not only in Sea City, but even among the believers on pilgrimage, there were already people rushing over from the wilderness. This was not a good sign.
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nA scarlet moon hung high in the sky. The thin red light shone on the black stone, making the texture of the stone even more sinister. Especially under the illumination of such red light, the huge rock looked more like a huge heart that was thumping.
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nThe city protection team had already gathered. They waited nervously at the side for suggestions. They did not know what would happen. Many people in the city protection team had already fallen into it.
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nThe people standing here were all old generals who were guarding Rong City with Ye Qiluo.
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nThere were also some stronger people who seemed to be able to resist such temptation. As for how others were so lucky, after some investigation, they discovered that there were fewer members in the city protection team recently. There were as many as ten percent of them.
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nUnfortunately, when they were cleaning up the corpses, they discovered many name tags of the city guards.
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nLi Yuanqing was standing at the top of a pavilion opposite the meteorite. Under the light of the night, Li Yuanqing’s face looked red.
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nFor some reason, he felt that the huge rock was provoking him and emitting a very slight attraction.
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nIn his heart, two voices kept arguing. It was the Soul Suppression Altar. Now, the two of them were like two children who quarreled non-stop every day. However, today, the two of them seemed to be even more nervous than usual. Their cries were even more anxious, as if they wanted to say something but could not say it.
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nAlthough these two little fellows did not know how to express themselves, Li Yuanqing could still clearly sense their resistance to the stone in front of him. There was also a hint of fear.
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n“What is inside that makes you so afraid?”
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